New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-08-14
THE ITALIAN DECLINE.
CONCLUSION OF Mr. sYMONDs'S hiSIohi
OFTuE RENAISSANCE.
RENaIssaNcE IN ITALY The Catnohc axo nn .y ~,
JONI ADDINGroN siMon nv. a Co

witt
o,ahoretc work of Mr.. Symonds is now
.o,,,oto in seven portly volumes those before
-. ,o,ninc Part V. in the systematic division oil
~, sub;ect. They arc not inferior In animation
.na hrill;ancy OF style, in richness sometimes
- o.t.,totions) OF diction, or in vehemence
~ ,ccinion TO the earlier publications; and the
,,,reIv critical portions contain some admlraHIe
.xamn]es Of thorough and acute treatment Oh
literary topics The period under review Is ho'
,be Renaissance, but its sequel the era OF ueca9'
nonnerism false taste and medlocrly pc'"e'n
,53O and 1900. This agc Of intellectual decline
Was also an age Of political prostrauon' ~
intcrnecine wars Of quarrelsome rcpuoh'S ".lo
ambitious princes under when ue i,'i'"" -,
had maintained an independence wi'"ou' 49,
security or honor, had been supPreSeou y
arrs OF the Emperor Charles V" anu INC pol
.u,o law oujet. exhausted and subJueaueu ui''i
a. c,on;sb beccmony. Few OF the ltahal po"oi'
hod suffered more from the Spanlards IMAM U"e
pope. Int by a strange turn OF ahairs INC 0P"n'
,eb tripmph resulted In the revival anu oohson-
oation of the temporal power OF the ioiS ne'
..,io, no1y attained, partly through the extinction
OF rival princcdoms, partly by the oireoV "0IiS
200 ~ Charles an unwonted dignity and spen-
dor II was at this juncturC that inc ChuiVn
was mcnacedsby the Lutheran revolt to which IL
onicl1cnine of the ecclesiastical spirit reNta,e-
mont and developmcnt of dogma. a partial aool-
.,o, of the most fragrant administrative abuses
.n5 co far mt least as the clergy were concerned
a roformotion of manners. This process OF rehoFa-
ton is known as the Counter Kelofnatloh' ""u
MIR Svmonds applies the term Cathohc heac'ion
I'm the same sense.
The decline Of the elegant arOS "Ui
Ing seasons Of religious revival Is ooni'"o"
phenomenon of which Italy furnishes by no means
the only conspicuous example IL Is when Vne
sccular ideal Of life prevails that men Apply Vnoni
selves with the most zest 20 the eaye'y anu
beauty of this world, putting out OF their minus
The prollems Of another existence Ft'e'' "i.
arts intellectual activity, oil the "g'ncles %
,r;nrv and culturc arc stimulated to their fullest
power But the product OF such cohul'ions si,"'''
the decay of the society out of which it springs
S;;,oIit,, civcs Mace TO mere sensuous richness,
and nc the matcrialistc civilization gradually
droons under encrvatlng Indulgence, the art ana
clio roo,rv which have been its delight ana deco-
,oticn fan into parallel debasemcnt. FOrtF
,a,o,v for the world excess always provokes reac-
zion The secular ideal gives way 10 the reheiouS
iaeol. a conflict follows in which Tor "ihic
vorlIlv pleasures and refnements arc uhuulJ us
credited until a second reaction restores inc us
thetic principle in new vigor ana purity d" '''e"
n direct connection could be shown between un'
increase of religious fervor and the decline oi "I-
tistic impulse, we might say that other hauo"s
have passed through the same experience ana un''
II was in the regular course OF nature thaI ltalS
SHOULD undergo it too. The glorlcS oil tne NC
paissance had been purchased at h'Sn piieo'
Never since the decadence Of the Roman Empire
had the secular IDEAL been followed with more en-
crossing enthusiasm than during that stunning Pc
.ff NJ ha arp
ways than by its fruitful study OF classical mas
,crnieccs and its ardent love for beautiful pagan
forms II was pagan In its whole conception OF
,he uor,l of DUTY IF human relations, OF PAIN ana
sorrow of the soul and the future 1t believed tat
Il raised man to a new dignity. eiiaccd from MN
"the stigma of Christianity" and led him into Il
fresh boundlcss, joyous universe OF intoSlca'lhs
freedom But in fact the inevitable exhaustion a'e
this period of fascinating excess was well adV"nceu
before the date which Mr. Symonds sets 1or VIC
Catholic Reaction. The Renaissance itseli con-
tanned the germs of decay. The original IN
pulses Of the Renaissance" says Mr. Symohds' III
scholarship, painting, sculpture, architecture anu
vernacular poetry had been exhausted. Human
ism. after recovering the classics and forming
new ideal of culture, was sinking into pcdantry
and academic erudition. Painting and SOUP
ture having eliminated in the great work Of Mi
ohclancelo. tended toward kind Of empty man
nerism Architecture settled down into the types
fixed by Palladio and BarazH Poetry seemed 70
have reached It's highest point OF development III
Ariosto The main motives supplied TO art by
medieval traditions and humanlsuc enthusiasm
were worked out" Even the creation OF the
critical spirit was unfavorable to artistic produc-
ton.
These are the symptoms of an over-ripe culture,
not of repression of external force the symptoms
which have been observed In every period OF de-
cline, in every country; and the characteristics
of what followed them In Italy are precisely those
which general experience has taught us TO look for
namely insipidty on the one hand or rottenness on
the other The indecencies and afectations of the
later poets Of the decadence truly the pro-
duct of Renaissance excuses as the spoiled and
wthercd fruit clinging the bare branches OF au-
tumn is the growth Of the generous summer Mr..
Symonds recognizes this relationship; be has been
700 close student Of Italian art and literature to
overlook it, and it Is not his habit 10 conceal facts
which tell against his hypothesis. One can hardly
frame criticism upon his theories without dis
covering that be has given the materials Tor the
counter argument In his own pages. He states
a position, and then impairs it by qualifications
and reductions, without quite perceiving what he
has done This franl1ness gives him sometimes
the appearance of uncertainty and renders 1t
possible for those who do not share his proposes
sions to make an embarrassing use of his admis-
sions Thus he leaves us TO reconcile as VIC can his
statement that the Renaissance impulses died of
exhaustion with the fundamental proposition OF
his book that the Renaissance was extnguished by
the Catholic Reaction. The answer Of course is
that after the original artistic and literary i'm
pulses of humanism had spent their force Italy
might have achieved fresh glory in other intel
lectual pursuits, especially in physical science if
the power of the Church had not been used to
suppress free thought. But this speculation upon
what might have been is hardly In the line Of Mir.
Symoncrs favorite studies and he does not follow
1T out.
The chief agencies Of the Counter Reformation
in bringing about the intellectual deoadence be